Siepi & Martinucci - Aida - Mortal, diletto ai Numi

[paulostroff99]

Spectacular.TY Gabba02 for posting this gem

[Maripudelmonaco]

Increible!!! y con 66 años!!! Impresionante, comoo siempre,, nunca defraudó, GRANDE CESARE SIEPI

[Agorante]

Of course if those guys ever wore those outfits in Egypt they would immediately die of heat prostration. Poor singers have to endure the 'genius' of the set designers, costumers and stage directors. Yet you'll notice that only the singers attract an audience. Who watches opera on YouTube for anything else but the singers.

BTW don't interpret anything good I said about Martinucci as meaning I don't have anything but the greatest respect for Siepi.

[belpairwalter]

Saisissant, à cet âge!

[sospello]

As I recall, February 10th (today) is Cesare Siepi's birthday. Magnificent singer

[jameslucjan]

This opera is amazing. It tears me up. One piece of magic after another. It defo talks to something inside of us that is not if this world. urggg I can't think of words to describe the magic of this music. I can't listen to it in the car anymore as my mind just goes to a different place and I've had a few near misses. What's the point of arguing over if it is sung well or not? The small flaws in the singing are what makes the music even more heavenly.

[adamskyb]

The high F is fine...good lord everyone is a critic

[stefanbassi]

Oh egymagyar how much I disagree with you. Surely Christoff had presence and interprational qualities but his voice had a very unpleasant timbre and an intolerable high vibrato, besides being severely lacking at the bottom of the voice. In Italian opera you want Italian sound, and Siepi was second to none in the great Verdi roles. And as regards Slavic basses, Ghiaurov was 10 times better than Christoff.

[liric01994]

insieme a Furlanetto e a Ghiaurov é il mio basso preferito

[odontotazio]

immenso Siepi!!!!

[SiViSaraVendetta]

Siepi's high F is far from being good but, my gosh!, what a fantastic voice and what a class!!

[aguacun]

take in consideration de age of Mr. Siepi in that moment.

[SiViSaraVendetta]

Yes, of course! I don't care that much that high F, since the rest is fantastic!

[Tenderness6]

I always like to hear this piece. The first time was when I heard Ezio Pinza singing this (on record)

[Agorante]

Odd that everyone comments about Siepi and none about Martinucci. I heard Martinucci live at SF Opera in Turandot. He was the real thing. A real Italian drammatic tenor in the Del Monaco - Corelli tradition. I thought he was more impressive in the theater than either Giacomini or Bartolini.

[cannante]

@Agorante a friend of mine sang aida with martinucci in 98 i think...wheenver palermo opened their opera house after the 30 year renovation.....

he was a very nice man, very supportive of my vocal studies, was free with advice, and was the oldest school of the performers... with exception of the ramfis... he was old as well as old school tho.

[DaDaFamily]

Many greats tenors and basses, Martinucci and Siepi are the ultimate.

[Fitz65]

I like Christoff....depending on what he's singing that is. He always had a severe Bulgarian accent in everything he sang....and it could be distracting. Ghiaurov's accent is almost nonexistant in comparison. Either way a greatly prefer Siepi to Christoff in all things Italian.....and Siepi makes Christoff sound like a baritone.

[egymagyar1111111]

you are making comparisions where there is none, Christoff has the forever presence and operatic theater, listen to his Philipp the II by Karajan and other tragic works, Siepi is another world has darker sonorous bass I heard both alive in the same Don Carlos, my vote is for Christoff and love Siepi in another roles I am glad to know we have such a rich spectra

[plehotka]

@egymagyar1111111

Nincs osszehasonlitasi alap Christoff es Siepi kozott. Ket teljesen mas interpretacio, technika, stb. Nem akarom bantani Boris-t mert elso enek tanarom volt Romaban es jo baratom, de Siepi valoban minden idok legjobb basszusa volt. Orulok hogy van magyar aki ertekeli Chirstoff-ot rajtam kivul mert amikor otthon jart ezt a szimpatiat nem kapta meg sem kollegaitol (Simandy) sem a kozonsegtol. Nem futyultek ki mint Tebaldit, de nem is unnepeltek.

Egy masik magyar.

[egymagyar1111111]

@plehotka legelsősorban köszönöm a személyes élménnyel ízesített választ, ott ültem a Don Carlos és a Hovanscsina előadáson, Simándi egy hisztérikus ember volt volt neki Prevedi affairje is, Siepi-t is láttam élőben olyan átlényegülést és megjelenítést amit a hangjával Christoff képes volt Siepi sem meg Nyesztyerenko sem aki talán egy még nagyobb basszus, nekem nagyon sok esetben az jutott eszembe Siepi-ről, hogy a Micimackó beszorult a befőttesüvegbe és onnan brummog kifelé, Christoff a dalokb

[plehotka]

@egymagyar1111111

Ismerem Boris erteket..:-)) Valoban rendkivuli volt, es velem nagyon aranyos szoval amikor goromba volt, gondolom megvolt az oka, lasd Callas es masok. Giulio Nerivel viszont-pedig Neri valoszinuleg az opera irodalom legnagyobb hangu basszusa volt-nagyon jo viszonban voltak. Ghiaurovval is pedig sok a mende-monda roluk. Siepi hangja, a puhasaga, a tokeletes hangkepzes miatt tartja a vilag-kritika a legjobbnak. Nem tudok a Simandy-Prevedi affair-rol! :-) Orulok valaszanak!

[BorisGodunov]

Too bad they had to but Siepi in that silly costume. But man, he sounded awesome at 65...

[cdgray2]

Many greats basses, Siepi is the ultimate.

[edraith]

.... great. And here he is 65 years old...

[kvagga1]

Siepi is incredible as always!

[modglezili]

the great ramfis

[mornaymariedomini]

Great Siepi...to be listen for singing students!

[ledonciccio]

Does anyone know how I could get in touch with him? I read he is in Florida but living a sort of secluded life. Is that true? So many young people revere him, it would be terrible if we can not even send him a letter to simply say : "thanks maestro you are the best of all time".

[bobom1]

I don't know about a secluded life - I think he is married and lives near Atlanta (not sure about this)

I wrote him a letter via the Met a few years back and they told me they would forward it to him. I hope they did! He's was a wonderful singer.

[fortunata1]

Videos of Siepi are rather rare - I am very grateful about this one. I saw him first 1964 as Don Giovanni, and last time 1994 in Norma in Vienna. He was always my favourite bass.

[viziagi]

Now I can't decide who I like better in this role: Siepi or Ghiaurov. Thanks Gabba02!

[ledonciccio]

Siepi of course!!!!

[viziagi]

I think they have different voices, but I absolutely love both. My two favourite basses.

[Orfeus80]

Mine too! In the vocal department Siepi wins hands down, the richness and legato are peerless. Ghiaurov could often sound scarier and this was extremely effective in some roles. And I'm not sure about this but think that Ghiaurov had the more powerful voice. But I wish I'd seen either of them live.

[viziagi]

I didn't see them on stage either, but as far as I know Siepi had a powerful voice as well. I agree that Ghiaurov could sound scary, but that's not why I like him. It's because his lyrical side: e.g. Gremin's aria from Onegin or the King-Posa duet from Don Carlo (Ghiaurov as the King actually sounds so heartbreaking, that one starts to prefer him to Posa). By the way, has Ghiaurov's "Ella giammai m'amo" disappeared from Youtube?

[carloss63]

Atleast Ghiaurov I saw different times on stage (in Vienna and Genova) and it was not even the (sufficient)power of his beautiful voice, but it was his expression and deeply felt emotions in his voice. Unfortunately I did not hear Siepi live - on the recordings (also this wonderful Ramphis) you can hear those incredible beautiful voice with his fantastic legato and his ggreat verdian fraseggio. He is the best bass-singer of every times...

[Agorante]

I heard both Siepi and Ghaiurov on stage. Comparisons are odious. As I posted somewhere else about Tozzi. There have only been about 10 bass stars in opera since the begining of the twentieth century. I don't know about Lablache, Fischer or Galli (bass stars of the ottocento).

Siepi's voice was simply amazing. It was so big and so easy. Ghiarov's voice when I first heard him was also amazing - huge and commanding.

[12010830]

you are right and Siepi had in early age a great high register what here misses, do not forget Christoff he has recording of the Infelice...(Ernani) with an F sharp at the end flying, and he made the 2 1/2 octave sounderstorm in the same the only other bass who recorded that was the german Ivan Rebroff everything you wrote is true!!!!!!!

[hologramlink108]

Can you describe more about those two voices live? I'm more of a Ghiaurov fan on disc, but velvet timbres like Siepi's often have a better rendition on stage.